50,000 trees in the desert, one careful method

Shekhawati in Rajasthan is dry country. Planting a tree there is easy; keeping it alive through the first hot seasons is the hard part.

Sundaram Verma of Sikar developed a water-saving dryland method for raising trees in arid conditions, and then showed it working on the ground.

The Department of Science and Technology records more than 50,000 trees raised in the Shekhawati region using his approach. That number is the result of patient, practical work in one of India’s toughest climates.